Chapter 16 - WHAT DOMINIC CHOSE
Dominic found Victor in the records room feeding paper files into a fire.
“You always were dramatic,” Victor said.
Flames crawled along the ceiling.
Dominic did not raise his weapon.
“It’s over.”
Victor smiled. “For you, maybe.”
He held up a small hard drive.
“This has every judge, cop, contractor, and account we ever touched. Including yours.”
“Give it to the FBI.”
Victor’s smile faltered.
“You’d burn yourself?”
“I should have done it seventeen years ago.”
Victor laughed once. “All this for Vincent Mercer’s daughter?”
“For everyone we convinced was safer silent.”
The ceiling groaned.
Victor backed toward a side exit.
“You think she’ll thank you when prosecutors freeze everything you own?”
“No.”
Dominic’s eyes stayed on him.
“I think she’ll finally know the truth.”
Victor raised his gun.
Before he could fire, a firefighter’s hose blasted through the doorway, knocking him sideways.
Dominic kicked the weapon away and dragged his brother toward the exit.
Victor fought him.
“Leave me!”
Dominic kept pulling.
“No more bodies for this family.”
They emerged seconds before part of the roof collapsed.
Police took Victor into custody on the pavement.
Hannah watched Dominic cough smoke into a towel.
“You saved him.”
“He goes to prison alive.”
She looked at Lily’s incubator.
“Thank you.”
Dominic shook his head. “Don’t thank me for repairing damage my family helped create.”
Vincent approached slowly.
For the first time, the two old friends stood face to face.
“You came,” Vincent said.
“Seventeen years late.”
Vincent nodded. “Still came.”
Then Detective Chen’s phone rang.
She listened, eyes sharpening.
“We have a new problem.”
Hannah almost laughed from exhaustion.
“What now?”
“Bradley made a deal.”
“With prosecutors?”
“No.”
Chen looked toward the ambulance.
“With the press.”
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Bradley had already told a reporter that Dominic Russo kidnapped Hannah, manipulated her during a medical crisis, and stole his newborn daughter.
The story was live.
